Dr. Abraham Palmer and Dr. Sandra Sanchez-Roige attended the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Virtual Workshop: “Integrating Genomics with Dimensional and Transdiagnostic Approaches to Advance Mental Health Research” as panelists on April 6th, 2021. This workshop aims to discuss the current state of psychiatric genomics and new opportunities in dimensional/alternative phenotypes that align with the NIMH research. See details of the workshop here.

The article, “The cocaine and oxycodone biobanks, two repositories from genetically diverse and behaviorally characterized rats for the study of addiction”, has been accepted for publication in eNeuro. Drs. Abraham Palmer and Oksana Polesskaya, and Apurva Chitre and Bonnie Lin are co-authors on the paper.

Dr. Palmer presented at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Center of Excellence in the Omics, Systems Genetics and the Addictome (OSGA) Webinar Series. His talk, “From GWAS to gene: What are the essential analyses and how do we bring them together using heterogeneous stock rats?”, describes the tools to analyze GWAS in HS rats and the automated pipeline that performs GWAS in HS rats. Furthermore, this talk explains the role of fine mapping of associated regions and the use of secondary analyses to prioritize genes in associated intervals.

The article, “Item-level genome-wide association study of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test in three population-based cohorts”, has been accepted for publication in The American Journal of Psychiatry. Drs. Abraham Palmer and Sandra Sanchez Roige are co-authors on the paper.

The article, “Genetic and pharmacological manipulations of glyoxalase 1 mediate ethanol withdrawal seizure susceptibility in mice”, has been accepted for publication in Brain Sciences. Drs. Abraham Palmer and Amanda Barkley-Levenson are co-authors on the paper.

The article, “Sensitivity to food and cocaine cues are independent traits in a large sample of heterogeneous stock rats”, has been accepted for publication in Scientific Reports. Apurva Chitre and Drs. Oksana Polesskaya and Abraham Palmer are co-authors on the paper.

Congratulations, Amanda!

The Palmer lab wishes everyone a safe and happy holiday season. The lab will be (mostly) closed December 24, 2020 to January 1, 2021. Here’s to a better new year!

Dr. Abraham Palmer has been named a Fellow (i.e., senior or honorary member) in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for his contributions to psychiatry. Congratulations, Abe!

Dr. Amelie Baud, a former Palmer lab postdoc, will start a Research Group Leader position at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, Spain in September 2021. Her lab will work on indirect genetic effects (genetic effects arising from heritable traits of social partners, when those traits influence the phenotype of interest) and host-microbiome interactions. She will keep collaborating with Dr. Palmer and the NIDA P50 Consortium. Congratulations, Amelie!